Effect of gas type on insulation recovery performance and repetitive breakdown stability of a corona-stabilized plasma closing switch

Abstract

The corona-stabilized plasma closing switch, which utilizes the stabilization effect resulted from the movement and accumulation of corona-generated space charge to improve the repetitive performance, has a great potential in repetitive pulsed power systems. In this paper, the influence of gas type on the recovery performance and repetitive breakdown stability of a corona-stabilized plasma closing switch is investigated. The results are analyzed from the memory effect of residual plasma, the development and propagation characteristics of streamer corona, and the thermo-hydrodynamic process of discharge channel. The enhancement effect of residual plasma on corona stabilization of the subsequent breakdown in the repetitive operation of the gas gap with highly inhomogeneous electric field and strong electronegative gas is proposed. The development and propagation characteristics of streamer corona in different gases that can lead to significant differences in the corona stabilization effect of breakdown are clarified. It is also found that the gas with small molecular mass and higher gas velocity exhibits excellent insulation recovery in the gas switch with uniform fields, but displays poor repetitive performance in the corona-stabilized switch with a rod-plate electrode.